Opposition grows to burying radioactive waste

Waterloo Region Record

BRUCE COUNTY – Opposition is growing as five communities in Bruce County have moved one step closer to having highly radioactive waste buried along the shores of Lake Huron.

Several local citizens’ groups – lead by the vocal Save Our Saugeen Shores group based in Southampton – have recently banded together to form a regional umbrella group to co-ordinate plans to oppose the nuclear industry’s plans.

The new group, called the Bluewater Coalition Against the Deep Geological Repository, includes farmers, environmentalists, residents and tourists.

“One of our goals is to try and bring more public attention to this (issue),” said Cheryl Grace, a leader of Save Our Saugeen Shores.

“We want to try and make sure that people understand what is happening,” she said.

Since the 1960s, nuclear power plants in Canada have generated more than two million bundles of radioactive used fuel – enough to fill six hockey arenas.

Currently, the waste is stored above ground at the nuclear plants that produced these used bundles of fuel which are about the size of a fireplace log.

The Bruce Nuclear power plant near Kincardine – which is the largest employer in Bruce County – has about 40 per cent of Canada’s used fuel already stored at its site.

Now the nuclear industry wants to find a site to permanently store in an underground repository all of Canada’s most potent radioactive waste and 21 communities across Canada – five of them in Bruce County – are vying for this $16-million project.

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization is overseeing the process of finding a “willing” community to be the host site – a nine-stage process that could take up to 10 years to complete.

The five communities in Bruce County, interested in the project, recently entered Step 3 of the process which involves an in-depth feasibility study that could take three years to complete, said Mike Krizanc, spokesperson for the Nuclear Waste Management Organization.

The five communities are Saugeen Shores which includes Southampton and Port Elgin, Brockton which includes Walkerton, Huron-Kinloss which includes Ripely, Arran-Elderslie which includes Chesley, and South Bruce which includes Mildmay.

After Step 3, the nuclear agency hopes to narrow the field to one or two communities, and hopefully by 2020, a community will be chosen after a referendum is held to gauge community willingness, Krizanc said. It could take another six to 10 years to build it and the agency doesn’t expect the first bundles to be stored until 2035.

This project is separate from another proposal to bury low-to-medium radioactive waste in a facility near the Bruce plant.

Shortly after Saugeen Shores threw its hat into the ring, Southampton and Port Elgin residents formed the group, Save Our Saugeen Shores, and have organized town-hall meetings and a rally which attracted 500 people.

Krizanc said that rally is the largest protest to date held in any of the 21 communities.

Grace said while knowledge of the project is high in Saugeen Shores that is not the case in some of the other communities in Bruce County.

She said this project not only impacts the tourist towns along Lake Huron, but also the agricultural communities that dot the county.

“One of the goals of our group is to try to make this a balanced exploration of all the costs and benefits that this project would mean for our communities. And we don’t feel that the nuclear waste management organization is being transparent about that,” she said.

Grace said the information from the nuclear industry is one-sided and does not include information about risks associated with burying potent nuclear waste, she said.

She said her group harbours deep suspicions about the safety of buried toxic waste near a Great Lake basin which provides drinking water for up to 40 million people.

Mike Smith, mayor of Saugeen Shores, said council voted unanimously to enter Step 3 to learn more about the project.

“This does not mean we are saying we want it,” Smith said. “We just want to investigate what is involved.”

Smith knows this issue has divided his community.

“I guess the bigger question … the bigger reality is about 10 miles from our shores is about 40 per cent of used nuclear fuel in Canada. There needs to be a solution to it. And it’s got to go somewhere so let’s find out. Let’s learn about it,” the mayor said.

Dave Inglis, Bruce County warden and mayor of the Municipality of Brockton, said there is a good possibility the underground nuclear repository could be located in Bruce County considering five communities within the county, including Brockton, are vying for it.

“We want to learn as much as we can because it it’s not here (Brockton), it’s going to be somewhere in our backyard we think,” he said.

He said there is high interest in the project in Bruce County because “we a nuclear knowledgeable area.

“We have a nuclear plant right beside us, close by. So we understand the industry. We understand that the industry has been safe all the years it’s been there,” Inglis said.

He said the main advantage of the project is the estimated 600 and 800 jobs during its construction.

“Whoever gets this project will benefit from it. There’s no question,” Inglis said.